Opinion + Commonwealth Games 2010 | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/commentisfree+sport/commonwealthgames2010
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The Commonwealth: from courage to cowardice | Dhananjayan Sriskandarajahhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/10/commonwealth-courage-cowardice-human-rights
The Commonwealth, by its silence, is losing its reputation as a standard bearer for human rights<p>The allegations in Saturday's Guardian that the Commonwealth secretariat has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/law/2010/oct/08/commonwealth-human-rights-leaked-document" title="abandoned its commitment">abandoned its commitment to defend human rights</a> could not have come at a worse time. Bad press around the Delhi games had already led to questions about what the Commonwealth is for these days, and this news potentially undermines the very thing that sets the association apart.</p><p>If the Commonwealth is to survive in the 21st century, it needs to show that it stands for something more than its ties to the old empire. The obvious choice, reaffirmed most recently when leaders met late last year, is a commitment to "fundamental values and principles" around human rights and democracy. Putting these lofty ideals into practice may be difficult given the diversity of the association – which covers Australia to Zambia – but if its leadership is not seen as a credible custodian of these values then the rest of the Commonwealth project will suffer.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/10/commonwealth-courage-cowardice-human-rights">Continue reading...</a>Human rightsCommonwealth Games 2010Commonwealth summitWorld newsUK newsCommonwealth GamesSun, 10 Oct 2010 19:59:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/10/commonwealth-courage-cowardice-human-rightsDhananjayan Sriskandarajah2010-10-10T19:59:01ZCommonwealth Games become the Sexual Olympics | Paul MacInneshttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/08/commonwealth-games-sex
This Commonwealth Games will be remembered for the most popular event – horizontal jogging. Nothing unsporting about that<p>It's fair to say that the first week of the Commonwealth Games has been a spectacular success, if by "spectacular success" you mean "disastrous botch job". Empty stadiums, empty bowels (after massed ranks of British and Australian swimmers came down with <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/oct/07/commonwealth-games-tom-daley-delhi-belly" title="gastroenteritis">gastroenteritis</a>) and, some might say, events decidedly empty of competition. It's been a terrible seven days for a games that was troubled since before it even began. At last, though, there is some good news: whatever the difficulties in Delhi, they haven't stopped the athletes from shagging.</p><p>A problem with blocked drains in the athletes' village was this week blamed on an abundance of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/oct/07/commonwealth-games-delhi-condom-drains" title="used condoms">used condoms</a> clogging up the system. Admittedly the blame has mainly been attributed by Indian newspapers, and the organisers are denying it ("There was no clogging in the drains at the village and no plumber was called in"). But one fact seems to be incontrovertible: the supply of complimentary johnnies has been depleted by 4,000. So either there have been a lot of water fights, or groups of young people at their physical and hormonal peak have taken to knocking each other off.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/08/commonwealth-games-sex">Continue reading...</a>Commonwealth Games 2010IndiaSexWorld newsSportLife and styleCommonwealth GamesFri, 08 Oct 2010 13:08:32 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/08/commonwealth-games-sexPhotograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty ImagesThe opening ceremony of the latest Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty ImagesThe opening ceremony of the latest Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty ImagesPaul MacInnes2010-10-08T13:08:32ZCommonwealth Games 2010: Illegals not allowed | Parvez Sharmahttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/06/commonwealth-games-delhi-illegal-workers
Hundreds of shanty dwellers have been cleared out of Delhi for the games – creating a servant crisis for the upper classes<p>Sita, the servant, is gone. Delhi is shining, as is Gurgaon. Sita, like my uncle's family, lives in <a href="http://www.propertywala.com/malibu-towne-gurgaon" title="">Malibu Towne</a> in Gurgaon, 212 acres of heaven where the upper-middle-class inhabitants of the tower apartments enjoy a life of "no load-shedding" – meaning the towers' power is supplied by generators so that residents can avoid the cyclical power cuts the Indian government inflicts on its booming populace.</p><p>No marble floors and 24-hour power and water for Sita, though. She and her husband, Mahesh, live in a makeshift <em>jhuggi</em>, or shanty town, right next to the towers, where a few sticks in the mud support the blue tarp that they and their three children call home. Sita is my uncle's family's primary servant and she cooks and cleans the dishes, toilets, floors and clothes. Mahesh cleans the cars. Their friend, Gautam, is the <em>mali</em>, or gardener.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/06/commonwealth-games-delhi-illegal-workers">Continue reading...</a>Commonwealth Games 2010IndiaWorld newsCommonwealth GamesWed, 06 Oct 2010 11:39:22 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/06/commonwealth-games-delhi-illegal-workersParvez Sharma2010-10-06T11:39:22ZIn praise of … Jamini Roy | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/04/jamini-roy-in-praise-of
The father of Indian art should have inspired the Commonwealth Games mascot<p>Among <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/02/ian-jack-commonwealth-games-delhi" title="">the unfortunate things about Delhi's Commonwealth Games</a>, the choice of mascot comes after a collapsed bridge, a spot of dengue fever and the schadenfreude of foreign reporters. Even so, something rankles about the organisers' choice of a cartoon tiger dubbed Shera. This is spray-on Indianness, a national animal that apparently embodies a blend of made-up values. Were the designers to have exercised some imagination, they could have drawn on the work of Jamini Roy. If anyone can be called the father of modern Indian art, it must be Roy. His depictions of Hindu mythology and especially <a href="http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/online_az/4:322/result/0/74616?initial=R&amp;artistId=18100&amp;artistName=Jamini%20Roy&amp;submit=1" title="">contemporary peasants</a> and workers retain an unblinking directness that make them powerful 70 years on. <a href="http://lunablogs.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/jamini-roy/" title="">Painted with bold, thick lines and with trademark almond-shaped eyes</a>, his figures could strike a passerby as childlike – but their uprightness and willingness to stare back at the viewer (Roy arranged his subjects so they were often facing dead ahead) turns them into adults, not to be argued with over trifles. This style of painting is aptly dubbed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Urban-Patua-Art-Jamini-Roy/dp/9380581033" title="">urban patua</a> by Sona Datta in her new book on Roy. <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=158026&amp;sectioncode=20" title="">Patua was the folk style</a> used for Bengali village paintings. Himself a village boy, Roy adopted that style for nationalist, leftwing Kolkata. It marked a rupture in established Indian art, which up till then had been exquisite, courtly, beautiful. As the British Museum's Datta deftly suggests, Roy took a gamble and broke with that tradition. If only Delhi's designers had put such thought into their work.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/04/jamini-roy-in-praise-of">Continue reading...</a>Commonwealth Games 2010SportPaintingArt and designCultureCommonwealth GamesSun, 03 Oct 2010 23:04:31 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/04/jamini-roy-in-praise-ofEditorial2010-10-03T23:04:31ZWhy Delhi is still a contractors' city at heart | Ian Jackhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/02/ian-jack-commonwealth-games-delhi
Events leading up to the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony have echoes of the past<p>"A shameful mess and absolutely typical of that contractors' city," said a friend in Kolkata when I asked him about the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. He meant that both contractors and politicians had made money, the second through bribes from the first, the first through the wide margin of profit offered by over-invoicing and cheap workers and workmanship. There is more to the mess than that – Delhi was unlucky this year to have had a prolonged monsoon and outbreaks of dengue fever – but coverage in the Indian media suggests the human factor should take most of the blame.</p><p>The acronyms of the Indian government's anti-corruption agencies crop up frequently. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is keeping "a hawk's eye" on the 14 projects it has put "under the scanner". The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is looking into alleged financial irregularities that run into "thousands of crores" (a crore is 10 million rupees, roughly £143,000). Nothing is sacred. Two members of the Games' organising committee were suspended following inquiries into the progress through London of the Queen's baton relay, which set off from Buckingham Palace in October last year.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/02/ian-jack-commonwealth-games-delhi">Continue reading...</a>Commonwealth Games 2010SportIndiaWorld newsCommonwealth GamesSat, 02 Oct 2010 06:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/02/ian-jack-commonwealth-games-delhiPhotograph: Raveendran/AFPAn Indian labourer works at the construction site of a hockey stadium in Delhi. Photograph: Raveendran/AFPPhotograph: Raveendran/AFPAn Indian labourer works at the construction site of a hockey stadium in Delhi. Photograph: Raveendran/AFPIan Jack2010-10-02T06:00:01ZIt's right to boycott the Commonwealth Games | Kapil Komireddihttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/28/commonwealth-games-boycott-india
From child labour to forced evictions, the cruelty of India's Commonwealth Games means spectators should stay away<p>An army of children – some as young as four – is currently working <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/23/commonwealth.games.child.labor/index.html?hpt=T2" title="CNN: Hard evidence of child labor at 2010 Commonwealth Games">without a break</a> to make New Delhi tolerable for foreign visitors attending the Commonwealth Games.</p><p>Since India won the hosting rights to the games – after allegedly <a href="http://news.oneindia.in/2010/09/24/cwg-india-bribed-72-nations-for-hosting-rights.html" title="One India: CWG: India bribes 72 nations for hosting rights">paying bribes</a> to member states – thousands of residents have been forcefully evicted from their homes. At least 100 workers have been killed and many more have been injured. Students at Delhi's universities were forced to vacate their halls to accommodate visitors. The novelist Mukul Kesavan, who serves as a professor at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamia_Millia_Islamia" title="">Jamia Millia Islamia</a>, said on television that he has seen students' health deteriorating in front of his eyes.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/28/commonwealth-games-boycott-india">Continue reading...</a>Commonwealth Games 2010SportIndiaChild labourHuman rightsCommonwealth GamesTue, 28 Sep 2010 10:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/28/commonwealth-games-boycott-indiaPhotograph: Anthony Devlin/PAConstruction workers at Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PAPhotograph: Anthony Devlin/PAConstruction workers at Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PAKapil Komireddi2010-09-28T10:00:01ZSportism: a faith in tatters | Simon Hattenstonehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/26/sport-faith-best-cheat-athletes
We made sense of life through this one rigidly ruled part of existence. Now it's all falling apart<p>Judaism, Catholicism, humanism, atheism, communism, Islamism, you-name-it-ism. Everybody has an "ism". Mine&nbsp;was sportism. I never believed in the great ref in the sky, but I always believed in the earthly version. My values were forged on football fields, tennis courts and in snooker halls. Not forgetting our garage, where my dad and I used to battle every Sunday to have our name inscribed on the Hattenstone Family Darts Trophy.</p><p>The eternal verities of sportism were simple – you tried your best and you didn't cheat. Whether a kickabout in the&nbsp;schoolyard or a cup final at Wembley stadium, the rules applied. Occasionally, you'd hear elders at football matches mutter into their blankets that certain players, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Marsh_%28footballer%29" title="Rodney Marsh">Rodney Marsh</a> for example, didn't always give of their best away from home. But we sportists didn't believe that. The notion wasn't just cynical, it was daft. What kind of madman would not give of their best when they were playing football and being paid for it?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/26/sport-faith-best-cheat-athletes">Continue reading...</a>SportCricketPakistan cricket teamWorld newsCommonwealth Games 2010UK newsSnookerCommonwealth GamesSun, 26 Sep 2010 20:30:33 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/26/sport-faith-best-cheat-athletesSimon Hattenstone2010-09-26T20:30:33ZThe Games and the Commonwealth | Alexander Chancellorhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/24/commonwealth-games-crisis-alexander-chancellor
The crisis of India's Commonwealth Games preparation raises the question: what is the Commonwealth for, exactly?<p>There has been some pretty ferocious comment in the Indian media about the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2010/sep/23/commonwealth-games-chaos-india" title="Commonwealth Games chaos shows all that is wrong with sport in India">Commonwealth Games fiasco</a>. The Tribune newspaper ended an editorial on Wednesday with the startling words: "Some people deserve to be hanged for this national shame." The Deccan Chronicle said it was "no longer possible to judge just how much shame and embarrassment a bunch of inept, inefficient and corrupt administrators will heap on this nation's head".</p><p>Trawling through India's English-language newspapers on the internet, I found no hint of resentment at the vilification India has had to endure by other Commonwealth countries, no suggestions of neo-colonialist condescension. On the contrary, all foreign criticism has been taken at face value, and all anger reserved for the incompetence and complacency of the Indian organisers. For example, much mockery was poured on the statement by Lalit Bhanot, a high-up on the organising committee, that "hygiene standards are different for different people".</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/24/commonwealth-games-crisis-alexander-chancellor">Continue reading...</a>Commonwealth Games 2010IndiaCommonwealth GamesFri, 24 Sep 2010 06:00:43 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/24/commonwealth-games-crisis-alexander-chancellorPhotograph: Kevin Frayer/APThe Commonwealth Games mascot Shera on a banner at the athletes' village in New Delhi, India. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/APPhotograph: Kevin Frayer/APThe Commonwealth Games mascot Shera on a banner at the athletes' village in New Delhi, India. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/APAlexander Chancellor2010-09-24T06:00:43ZCompared with a lootfest like London or Beijing, Delhi is just an also-ran | Simon Jenkinshttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/23/lootfest-delhi-sport-bloated-chauvinism
Yes, India's planners take gold in the corruption stakes. But the real culprit is international sport's bloated chauvinism<p>How dare India disgrace the Commonwealth? How dare it inflict discomfort and filth on the grandees of international sport? Surely it should have spent billions more rupees, evicted millions more peasants and hired thousands more coolies and child labourers so the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) could enjoy a couple of weeks of rah-rah next month on the banks of the great, grey-green, greasy Yamuna river?</p><p>Scottish boxers and rugby players are said to be simpering at the prospect of a broken loo. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/commonwealthgames/8020520/Commonwealth-Games-2010-hockey-and-bowls-will-relocate-to-temporary-digs-in-Delhi.html" title="">English lawn bowlers</a> are quaking at rolling the bias in malarial swamps. The marble bathrooms are not ready. The VIP tickets are in chaos. The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/sep/22/commonwealth-games-bridge-roof-collapse" title="">weightlifters' roof has collapsed</a>. (Surely they can lift it back up?) India seems not to realise that sport's aristocrats expect only the best, in return for bestowing on Delhi the accolade of "Games venue".</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/23/lootfest-delhi-sport-bloated-chauvinism">Continue reading...</a>Commonwealth Games 2010Olympic Games 2012ChinaIndiaWorld newsUK newsSportOlympics 2008Asia PacificCommonwealth GamesOlympic GamesThu, 23 Sep 2010 19:25:37 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/23/lootfest-delhi-sport-bloated-chauvinismSimon Jenkins2010-09-23T19:25:37ZCommonwealth games athletes should turn up after misery endured by locals | Amelia Gentlemanhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/22/commonwealth-games-delhi-athletes
In the spirit of friendliness the games is meant to evoke, they should insist on travelling to Delhi<p>A few years ago, when I was working in India, I spent several days talking to poorer Delhi residents whose homes had been demolished in preparation for these games. These were familiar stories of individual catastrophe; in recent years there has been a lot of painful upheaval as politicians try to create a city worthy of its status as gateway to an emerging superpower. But there was a particularly depressing absurdity in the amount of misery triggered during the planning of the athletes' village – a construction that would only be operational for a short period.</p><p>On a visit to a dismal resettlement camp on the outskirts of Delhi, I met Parvati, a mother in her 40s. "We were told that palaces would be built there for visiting foreigners and that the slums would have to move. We had two hours' warning that our homes would be destroyed. That's about all we know about the games." She lived on a pavement for several weeks, then she and around 5,000 families were given a new bit of land outside the city centre. Few had enough money to rebuild their homes. The poorest were living beneath plastic sheets, draped, at shoulder height, over a framework of wooden sticks. The new site was remote and without any infrastructure: no water supply, sanitation, or buses to take residents back to their jobs in the Delhi. Without jobs there was nothing much to do, except play cards and worry.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/22/commonwealth-games-delhi-athletes">Continue reading...</a>Commonwealth Games 2010SportIndiaWorld newsCommonwealth GamesWed, 22 Sep 2010 21:56:10 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/22/commonwealth-games-delhi-athletesPhotograph: Manish Swarup/APLabourers push a cart by an image of the Commonwealth games mascot. Photograph: Manish Swarup/APPhotograph: Manish Swarup/APLabourers push a cart by an image of the Commonwealth games mascot. Photograph: Manish Swarup/APAmelia Gentleman2010-09-22T21:56:10ZThe point of the Commonwealth Games | Leo Miranihttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/22/commonwealth-games-point
Think of the Commonwealth as a scaled-up version of a support group for survivors of testicular cancer<p>If it weren't so humiliating, it might actually be funny. Responding to allegations that dogs and shit (and dog shit) were to be found in abundance at the <a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/113496/Sports/nations-complain- dogs,-faeces-all-over-cwg-village.html" title="India Today: Nations complain: Dogs, faeces all over CWG Village">Commonwealth Games athletes' village</a>, one organiser said, entirely without irony, that it was a "stray incident". Meanwhile, the chief minister of Delhi, where the Games are being held, tried to calm visiting delegations after a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/sep/21/commonwealth-games-collapse-bridge-delhi" title="Guardian: Chaos in run-up to Commonwealth Games">pedestrian footbridge collapsed</a> outside the main venue. The bridge was only for the use of spectators, she told the press, not for athletes or officials. And even as one of India's leading newspapers ran a story calling <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/article740679.ece" title="The Hindu: US report says India third most powerful nation">India the world's third most powerful country</a>, New Zealand – <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/sep/21/commonwealth-games- delhi-new-zealand" title="Guardian: Commonwealth Games in Delhi could be called off, warns New Zealand team">New Zealand!</a> – flexed its little muscles and warned that the Games could be called off.</p><p>That, however, would be a shame. The Commonwealth Games must go on, not so much for what they actually are ("<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2010/sep/21/whither-the- commonwealth-games" title="Guardian: Whither the Commonwealth Games?">the third largest multi-sport event in the world</a>") but for what they represent.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/22/commonwealth-games-point">Continue reading...</a>Commonwealth Games 2010SportIndiaWorld newsCommonwealth GamesWed, 22 Sep 2010 11:15:43 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/22/commonwealth-games-pointPhotograph: Anupam Nath/APA footbridge under construction near the Commonwealth Games main stadium in New Delhi collapsed on Tuesday. Photograph: Anupam Nath/APPhotograph: Anupam Nath/APA footbridge under construction near the Commonwealth Games main stadium in New Delhi collapsed on Tuesday. Photograph: Anupam Nath/APLeo Mirani2010-09-22T11:15:43ZSkewed modernisation means a farewell to Delhi's tongas | Ribhu Borphukonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jun/07/skewed-modernisation-farewell-delhi-tongas
Plans for a pre-Commonwealth Games facelift signal a too-hasty exit for the city's horse-drawn carriages<p>The Mughals used them. The British used them. But now the government in India is <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6d741de4-6c06-11df-86c5-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss" title="FT.com: Modernisation ends Delhi's tongawallahs">finding it difficult</a> to accommodate the tongas (or horse-drawn carriages) of Delhi. The decision isn't due to fanatical animal rights activists; nor can it be called a sincere move to decongest roads. This a part of the campaign to spruce up the image of Delhi before the <a href="http://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/" title="Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi">Commonwealth Games</a> start in the capital in October and foreigners start swarming into the city to witness the tale of urban boom the country has been boasting about.</p><p>The decision is cynically clear. All "un-modern" sights, sounds and smells are being sanitised. The tongas have become sluggish on the smooth four-lane streets of Delhi, a pain for the speed-hungry imported cars, and an awkward sight in front of swanky malls. The projection needs to be perfect. The country doesn't get enough chances of hosting mega-events, and the foreign traffic that the country will witness in that period will be unprecedented.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jun/07/skewed-modernisation-farewell-delhi-tongas">Continue reading...</a>IndiaCommonwealth Games 2010World newsCommonwealth GamesMon, 07 Jun 2010 13:00:10 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jun/07/skewed-modernisation-farewell-delhi-tongasPhotograph: Panoramic Images/Getty ImagesThe Indian government is finding it hard to include tongas (horse-drawn carriages) in its picture of modern Delhi. Photograph: Panoramic Images/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Panoramic Images/Getty ImagesThe Indian government is finding it hard to include tongas (horse-drawn carriages) in its picture of modern Delhi. Photograph: Panoramic Images/Getty ImagesRibhu Borphukon2010-06-07T13:00:10Z